Fundraising campaign will double your donation to the Breckenridge Texan

The Breckenridge Texan has joined more than 150 nonprofit newsrooms across the country to participate in the 2018 NewsMatch, the largest grassroots fundraising campaign to support nonprofit news organizations.

How to donate

The local online nonprofit news organization will be eligible to receive matching funds for individual donations up to $1,000. Donors who contribute through December 31, 2018, at NewsMatch.org or directly to the Breckenridge Texan will have their donations doubled (up to $1,000).

Mail a check to P.O. Box 1228, Breckenridge, Texas 76424. Please make the check out to the Institute for Nonprofit News, the Breckenridge Texan’s 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor.

“We are excited to be a part of NewsMatch and to launch our first major fundraising campaign,” said Breckenridge Texan co-founder and publisher Tony Pilkington. “By contributing during the NewsMatch campaign, the community of Breckenridge can double its support for the Breckenridge Texan.”

Additionally, all donors who contribute by midnight Monday, Dec. 31, will be listed on the Breckenridge Texan’s website as Founding Members of the Breckenridge Texan*.

About the fundraising campaign

In 2017, the national fundraising campaign, NewsMatch helped to raise more than $4.8 million for dozens of nonprofit news products from individual donors and a coalition of private funders. This year the number of nonprofit news organizations participating has jumped by more than 40 percent.

“There is an incredible amount of excitement building around NewsMatch 2018 from news organizations across the country,” said Sue Cross, Executive Director and CEO of the Institute for Nonprofit News, which serves as one of NewsMatch’s nonprofit partners. “We are encouraged to see such strong growth in community support of news because NewsMatch makes it easy for communities and individuals to find and fund their local sources of trusted news.”

NewsMatch’s national call to action rallies those who believe in freedom of the press and helps empower journalists to do their jobs by telling stories that spark change and hold leaders accountable.

About the Breckenridge Texan

The Breckenridge Texan was founded by Pilkington and his wife, fellow journalist Carla McKeown, in August 2017 as a nonprofit, online news source covering Breckenridge and Stephens County, Texas. Their goal in starting the Breckenridge Texan was to ensure that the community has a locally owned and operated source for news, entertainment and advertising.

“With so many small communities losing their local newspapers, we just want to make sure Breckenridge always has access to the type of reporting it deserves,” said McKeown, the Breckenridge Texan’s editor and reporter. “We’ve seen so many towns with no news coverage at all, and we didn’t want that to happen here.”

According to a recent study, in the past 15 years more than 1,300 communities that used to have newspapers no longer have any news coverage at all. By creating the Breckenridge Texan, its founders are working hard to make sure that doesn’t happen to this community.

“We’d like to expand the types of things we cover and create a news training program to make sure Breckenridge always has a quality news source,” Pilkington said. “We have a lot of plans, including eventually offering a scholarship to local journalism students. But, we need the support of the community to accomplish it all. NewsMatch is great because it doubles every donation we receive, up to $1,000.”

About NewsMatch

The NewsMatch campaign is driven by a partnership with the Institute for Nonprofit News and the News Revenue Hub, Democracy Fund, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Ethics and Excellence Foundation. The Miami Foundation serves as fiscal sponsor for the fund. The Facebook Journalism Project also made a $1 million donation to NewsMatch in 2018. Donors and foundations can join NewsMatch 2018 or support individual newsrooms by contacting The Miami Foundation’s Lindsey Linzer (LLinzer@miamifoundation.org).

Knight Foundation launched the inaugural NewsMatch in 2016, helping 57 nonprofit news organizations raise more than $2.4 million. In 2017, the campaign expanded to include a coalition of funders, raising $4.8 million for nonprofit news organizations, and equipping them with professional fundraising, tools and technology and cultivated over 43,000 new donors.

Donors can easily find and support trusted reporting in their community and on issues they care about at newsmatch.org. In addition to the Breckenridge Texan, some of the other organizations selected for NewsMatch 2018 include The Texas Tribune, Texas Observer, The Austin Bulldog, MinnPost, St. Louis Public Radio, The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting, New Mexico In Depth and many more.

These nonprofit news organizations are all members in good standing of the Institute for Nonprofit News. To be a member, an organization must be a 501(c)(3) or have a 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor, must be transparent about funding sources, and produce investigative and/or public-service reporting. Donations are tax-deductible as allowed by law. Visit newsmatch.org for more information.

The Institute of Nonprofit News is the Breckenridge Texan’s 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor. All donations made to the Breckenridge Texan via NewsMatch or INN will be tax deductible.

*Please note that membership in the Breckenridge Texan is a designation acknowledging your supporting role and your recognition of the work that we do; it is a way for us to show our deep gratitude for your donation. Membership does not come with any additional obligations or responsibilities and does not offer a role in guiding the journalism provided by the Breckenridge Texan. Our Board of Directors, publisher and editor will continue to perform their duties of providing accurate, fair and thorough coverage of Breckenridge, Stephens County and the area.